Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1887-01-20

diseusted with many Of these amusements,
and no wonder What an importation OF
unclean theatrical stuff we have within the
last few years had brought TO our shoresl
And professors Of religion patronizing such
thingsl Having sold out to the devil, why
don't you deliver the goods and go over
to him publicly, body, mind and soul, and
withdraw your name from Christian churches
and say: know all the world by theSe
presents that am a patron of uncleanness
and child of hell" Sworn to be the Lords,
you are perjurers.
But at Ia the tide has turned, and the des-
pisers of purity overdid the matter.
foreign actress Of base morals arrived, In
tending TO make the tour Of the states, but
the remaining decency of our cities
rose up and Cancelled the contracts,
and drove her back from our American
stage-a woman ct fer neither continent. In
the name of Almighty God | take these
denominations by the throat. If you think
these offenSes are to go on forever, you do
not know who the Lord is God will not
wait for the day Of judgment. All these
palaces of sin will become palaces of right
eousness. They viii come into the possession
Of those strong for virtue and strong for
God. He shall divide the spoil with the
strong"
China and Africa, the two richest portions
Of the earth by reason Of metals and rare
woods and inexhausti5ls productiveneSs. are
not yet divided up among the goa because
they are rot ready to be divided. Wait
antil all the doors that Livingstone opened
in Africa shall be entered, and Bishop Tay-
lor with his band of self supporting mission
aries have done their work, and the Asian
tees and Senegambians shall know Christ as
well as you know him, and there shall be on
the banks of the Nile and the Niger higher
civilization than is now to be found on the
banks of the Hudson, then Christ will divide
up that continent among his friends. Wait
until China, which is half as large as all Eu-
rope, shall have developed her capacities for
rice, and tea, and sugar among edibles; and
her amethyst, and sapphire, and topaz, and
opal, and jaspar, and porphyry among
precious stones; and her rosewood, and ebony,
and camphor, and varnish trees among prec-
ious woods; and turned up from her depths
half dozen Pennsylvania Of coal and iron,
and twenty Nevadas of silver, and fifty Cali.
fornias of gold, and her 500, 100000 Of people
shall be evangelical; then the Lord viii di-
vide it up among the good
II my text be not a deception, but the
eternal truth, then the time is coming when
all the farms will he owned by Christian
farmers, and all the commerce controlled by
Christian merchants, and all the authority
held by Christian officials, and all the ships
commanded by Christian captains, and all
the universities under the instruction of
Christian professors, Christian kings, Chris
tan presidents, Christian governors, Chris
tian mayors, Christian common council
Yet, what a securing out what an upturn-
ingl what a demolitionl what a resurrection
must precete this new apportionment!
do not under ate the enemy Julius
Cesar got his greatest victories by fully esti-
mating the vastneSs of his foes and prepared
his men for their greatest triumph by saying:
Tomorrow King Juba viii be here with
$1,000 horses, 100000 skirmishers and 800
elephants" l do not underrate the vast
forces of sin and death, but do you know who
commands US! Jehovah.Jireh. And the re-
serve corps behind us are all the armies Of
thunderbolt. The good work Of the worlds
redemption is going on every minute. Never
SO many splendid men and glorious women
on the side of right as to-day. Never so
many good people as now. Diogenes has
been spoken Of as wise man because he went
with lantern at MONDAY, saying he was
looking for an honest man. II he had turned
his lantern towards himself he might have
discovered crank.
Honest men by the ten thousand Through
the international series of Sunday school les
sons the next generation all through Chris
tendon are going to be wiser than any
generation since the world stood Theking-
dom is coming God can do it. No house
wife with n channels cloth ever polished a sill
yer teaspoon with more ease than Christ win
rub off from this world the tarnish and
brighten it up till it glows like heaven, and
then the glorious apportionment. for my text
is REINFORCED by a score of other texts, when
it saws of Christ: "He shall divide the spoil
with the strsng."
"But,' you say, that is pleasant to think
of for others, but before that time | shall
have passed up into another existence and /
shall get no advantage from that new appcr
tionment.p All, you have only driven me to
the other more exciting and transporting
consideration, and that is that Christ is going
TO divide up heaven in the same way. There
are old estates in the celestial world that have
been in the possession of its inhabitants for
thousands of years, and they shall remain as
they are. There are old family mansions in
heaven filed with whole generations of kim
dred, and they shall never be driven out
MANY OF the victors frcm earth have already
got their palaces, and they are pointed out to
those newly arrived. Soon after our getting
there we will ask to be shown the apostolic
residences, and ask where does Paul live, and
John, and shown the patriarchal residences,
and shall say: "Where does Abraham live,
or Jacobl" and shown the martyr residences
and say: "Where does John Huss live, and
Ridleyfn We will want to see the boule-
wards where the chariots of conquerors roll
l will want to see the gardens where the
princes walked.
We will want TO see Music Row, where
Handel, and Haydn, and Mozart, and Charles
Wesley, and Thomas Hastings and Bradbury
have their homes, out Of their windows, ever
and anon, rolling some sonnet Of an earthly
oratorio or hymn transported with the COM
poser. We viii want to see Revival Terrace,
where Whitefeld, and Nettleton, and Pay
son. and Rowland Hill, and Charles Finney
and other giants of soul reaping are resting
from their almost supernatural labors, their
doors thronged with converts just arrived,
coming to report themselves.
But brilliant as the sunset, and like the
leaves for number. are the celestial homes yet
to be awarded, when Christ to you, and mill
ions of others, shall divide the spoil. What
do You want therei You shall have it An
orchard There it is; twelve manner of fruit,
and fruit every month. Do you want river
scenery Take your choice ON the banks Of
the river, in longer, wider deeper roll than
Danube, or Amazon, or Mississippi, if mingled
In one, and emptying into the sea Of glass,